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Updated: Dec 9, 2025

Lateral Root Inducible System in Arabidopsis and Maize
Published on: January 14, 2016
Nitrate reductase is a key enzyme responsible for nitrogen-regulated auxin accumulation in Arabidopsis roots
Yu-Fan Fu1, Zhong-Wei Zhang1, Xin-Yue Yang1
1College of Resources, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China.
Abstract:
Nitrate reductase (NR) is one of the key enzymes for plant nitrogen assimilation and root architecture remodeling. However, crosstalk between NR-mediated signaling and auxin-mediated root development in nitrogen-status responses has not been investigated in details before. In this study, root phenotype and auxin distribution in nia1/nia2 (nitrate reductase) double mutant and chl1-5 (nitrate transporter NRT1.1) mutant under different nitrogen availabilities were compared. The nia1/nia2 mutant showed very low expression levels of auxin biosynthetic/signaling genes and was insensitive to nitrogen changes. While the chl1-5 mutant showed a high NR activity with a high level of auxin in the meristematic zone and a weaker response to nitrogen changes, when compared with the wild-type plants. We firstly found that NR activity was roughly positive-correlated with the root auxin level, and there is a crosstalk between nitrate signaling and auxin signaling. The putative signaling pathways downstream of NR have been discussed.
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